Grammy-winning cellist plays Sandwich

Cellist Mike Block will perform Friday in Sandwich as part of the Village Concert Series. KELLY LORENZ

Grammy Award-winning cellist, singer and composer Mike Block on Friday will be featured in the third edition of the Village Concert Series sponsored by the Sandwich Arts Alliance. His solo performance will mix core classical repertoire with original compositions.

Block has recorded original material, folk music and cross-cultural collaborations, and, according to his bio, has worked in performance and recordings with a wide variety of musicians, including Will.i.am, Stevie Wonder, the New York Philharmonic, Bon Iver, Zakir Hussain, Alison Krauss, Rhiannon Giddens and Bobby McFerrin.

Block has toured the world as a member of cellist Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road Ensemble, featured as cello and vocal soloist. Block is credited as being among the first cellists to adopt a strap – creating his own Block Strap – to be able to stand and move while playing; he was the first standing cellist to play at Carnegie Hall.

Block has an ongoing project to record all of the Bach cello suites in acoustically rich bathrooms of famous concert halls (BachInTheBathroom.com). In 2017, he became an ongoing contributor to Facebook’s Sound Collection, for which he has composed, arranged, recorded and produced more than 300 tracks ranging from Western classical to contemporary pop, as well as traditional music from Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Middle East.

Block founded the Mike Block String Camp, teaches online through his Multi-Style Cello School at ArtistWorks.com, and worked as founding director of the Silk Road’s Global Musician Workshop, designed to foster a community of globally minded musicians. Before Friday’s concert, Block will work with Oak Ridge School students in classes with instrumental music teacher John Williams.